Policies for Contribution of Test Cases to W3C

This version of the test suite contribution policy has been superseded by the version identified by http://www.w3.org/2004/10/27-testcases

This document discusses patent, copyright, and liability issues surrounding the contribution of test cases to W3C. The purpose of this policy is to clarify the terms for contributing test cases to W3C and to facilitate contributions from Working Group Participants.

Summary
Publishing Test Suites as Part Of or Outside a W3C Recommendation
Test Suites Published as Part of a W3C Recommendation
Test Suites Published Outside a W3C Recommendation
Transfer of Copyright to W3C

1. Summary

The following matrix summarizes what test case Contributors must agree to in order for W3C to accept their contributions.

	Contribution published in Recommendation	Contribution published outside Recommendation
Participant (all types)	All obligations covered by the W3C Patent Policy and other W3C Agreements.	All obligations covered by Section 7 of the W3C Member Agreement, and other W3C Agreements.
non-Participant	All obligations covered by Grant I.	All obligations covered by Grant II. No licensing obligation for patents.

License Grants (Grant I, Grant II) required of non-Participants are separate online forms linked from the matrix. To use these forms you will need a W3C account. You can request one through the Public Access Request Form.

In order to protect the Contributor against liability that might appear if a third party relies on the contributed materials and encounters damage, the following disclaimer is included into the contribution declaration to the W3C. Note that materials retained for publication will be distributed carrying a similar disclaimer attached to the W3C Document license.

In all cases, contributions are provided as is, and contributors make no representations or warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or title; that the contents of the contributions are suitable for any purpose. especially, contributors make no representations, express or implied, that the contributions or the use thereof indicates conformance to a specification; contributions are provided only to help reaching interoperability.

2. Publishing Test Suites as Part Of or Outside a W3C Recommendation

Each Working Group compiles contributed test cases into one or more test suites. The group also decides whether to publish the test suite(s) as part of a W3C Recommendation or outside the Recommendation. There are advantages to each approach:

As Part of a Recommendation

Group participants benefit from the W3C Patent Policy commitments they make when joining a Working Group; no extra effort inside their organizations is required of them.
Publication as part a Recommendation have lend more normative weight to the test suite. This may affect the level of recognition of the test suite.
According to the current policy, inclusion in the Recommendation lowers the risk of surprises because contributors agree to various W3C policies, including the W3C Patent Policy.

Outside a Recommendation

Publication outside the Recommendation allows the Working Group to modify the tests without having to rebuild consensus around the changes through the Recommendation Track Process; no Advisory Committee review or Director's Decision is required.
According to the current policy, publication outside the Recommendation does not involve any obligations to license patents according to the W3C Royalty-Free License.

3. Test Suites Published as Part of a W3C Recommendation

For Test Suites published as part of a W3C Recommendation:

Patent licensing obligations are governed by the patent policy under which the specification was produced (for example, the W3C Patent Policy).
Copyright and document distribution issues are governed by the W3C Copyright Policy and the Member agreement. This policy both promotes the distribution of a test suite as it was agreed upon within W3C and protects the test suite from unapproved modifications that might harm interoperability.

4. Test Suites Published Outside a W3C Recommendation

No Contributors are bound by the W3C Patent Policy licensing requirements for test suites published outside a W3C Recommendation, even if the relevant Recommendation was developed under the W3C Patent Policy. To help foster confidence in the test suites, all Contributors (Member and non-Member):

Should disclose patents (1) about which they have actual knowledge, and (2) that they believe contain claims essential to the usage of the test suites.
May agree to submit the material according to the terms of the W3C Patent Policy Licensing Requirements. Submitters who do so have no disclosure requirement.

5. Transfer of Copyright to W3C

If you hold copyright for a set of test cases and wish to transfer copyright to W3C at the same time as you contribute the test cases, please contact Ian Jacobs at w3t-pr@w3.org

Alan Kotok, W3C
Rigo Wenning, W3C
Ian Jacobs, W3C

Last modified: $Date: 2005/03/17 05:11:41 $.